Hangman: Life and Crimes of Serial Killer & Police Officer Gerard Schaefer by Michael Newton & RJ Parker Publishing

Author:Michael Newton & RJ Parker Publishing [Newton, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: RJ Parker Publishing
Published: 2016-10-17T13:00:00+00:00

*****

Florida is known for executing murderers, but Schaefer would not face the death penalty for killing Susan Place and Georgia Jessup. On June 29, 1972, three months before the two girls vanished, the U.S. Supreme Court's five-to-four ruling in Furman v. Georgia invalidated capital punishment nationwide as "cruel and unusual punishment." The decision left states free to write new statutes, permitting executions for murder with various "special circumstances." In 1976 the Supreme Court overturned its Furman ruling and upheld the death penalty's constitutionality in the case of Gregg v. Georgia, but three more years elapsed before Florida resumed executions in 1979. Schaefer's only proven crimes occurred in legal no-man's land, meaning the worst that he could face was life imprisonment.

Public defender Elton Schwartz professed that even life inside might be too much, telling reporters and Judge Cyrus Pfeiffer Trowbridge that Schaefer suffered from a serious mental disorder. An expression of his client's innocence was tacked on almost as an afterthought. Judge Trowbridge sent Schaefer to the Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee, built as an arsenal in the 1830s, converted to a prison in 1868, then refurbished to serve as a lunatic asylum in 1876. There, doctors would decide if the Hangman was legally sane and, therefore, fit for trial.

First in line, on April 10, was Dr. R. C. Eaton, who detailed Schaefer's background and noted that "from an early age he has had numerous sexual hangups." Schaefer also had "a considerable preoccupation with death, and would get excited when he dreamed about killing people. Sometimes he did not know what was fact and what was fantasy." Although "well oriented" during their interview, Schaefer "cried considerably, stating he felt there was no use in going on." He voiced suicidal thoughts in "a very matter-of-fact tone," saying he "definitely plans to go ahead with killing himself." Dr. Eaton found Schaefer "definitely depressed, partly as a reaction to the present situation," and recommended further evaluation.

Next up, on April 18, was Dr. Mordecai Haber, who reviewed Schaefer's troubled history, recording his lie that he failed at teaching "because they only wanted black people." Regarding his assault on victims Trotter and Wells, Schaefer said, "I was mad at them. They laughed at me." He surprised Haber by confessing to acts of sodomy with cows and horses, sometimes after he'd beheaded them with a machete. Schaefer's future outlook was grim. "I'm going to kill myself," he said. "All this stuff about the murders. People are saying they've seen me with these girls and that I'm the last person to be seen with them. They say they have eyewitnesses. I don't know what to think." But Dr. Haber did, reporting that Schaefer "shows no symptoms or signs of organic brain damage, mental defect, or psychosis." His diagnosis was "antisocial personality, manifest by sexual deviation [and] erotic sadism." Haber deemed Schaefer mentally competent for trial.

Dr. Benjamin Ogburn interviewed Schaefer on June 20, finding the Hangman "well aware of his present situation and his reasons for admission to the hospital," although, oddly, "he denied any knowledge of the charges for which he is being held.

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